The Kite Runner

Happy New Year everyone! Well seeing as I finished my homework a little early today (weird right?) I decided to write on my blog before I worked on my brief for the Youth and Government Conference. So much nerdiness, so little time. But anyways, I decided to review a book that I read a few years ago which a few of you might have heard of, called "The Kite Runner." That was an understatement, a rhetorical technique which I just did an assignment on! I guess Mr. Aldridge was right, I do use rhetorical strategies during my daily life. The Kite Runner is an International Bestselling book and is critically acclaimed. Unfortunately, I read this book years ago, so my memories are a little fuzzy. Bear with me though as we bulldoze through this and so without further ado I shall review The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini.

Characters: Amir: lives with his father in Afghanistan/leaves Afghanistan to live in California/loves to fly kites
Hassan: servant to Amir's father/Amir's best friend/loves to run after the flown kites
Assef: the most hated boy in Amir and Hassan's neighborhood/rapes Hassan/joins the Taliban after they rise to power
Baba: Amir's father/a man of prominence who is forced to move to California/is forced to work low paying jobs and dies of cancer
Rahim Kahn: Baba's business partner/the man Amir considers to be a father/convinces Amir "to make things right"
Sohrab: son of Hassan/is captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan/is desperately trying to survive

The Plot: Amir and Hassan were best friends despite their differences. Amir was cowardly, Hassan was strong. Amir was good at flying kites, Hassan was good at chasing after them. Amir was a Pashtun boy while Hassan was a Hazara, the shunned ethnic minority. Amir could read while Hassan could not. The boys watched movies together and were always supposed to be best friends. Until one night after a kite runner competition, something happens to Hassan, something too terrible to even be acknowledged by Hassan. But Amir saw what happened and said nothing, and did not try and stop Assef from hurting Hassan. He was too afraid. Eaten up by guilt, Amir frames Hassan for stealing to force him to leave his father's employment so Amir will never have to see Hassan again. But when the Soviet Union takes over Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee first to Pakistan, then to California. There, the two men make their lives in a new world. But Amir cannot escape Hassan and almost twenty years later, Amir gets what he has been waiting his whole life for: a chance to make amends.

What I liked/What I didn't like: I am going to do the same thing here as I did for Catch 22 where I combine all of my thoughts into one big section just because it was so long ago that I read it, it helps to let it flow all out at once. First off, let me just say that I don't usually cry in books. I have certainly felt sad while reading the book and I have certainly empathized with the characters but I don't usually cry. I cried twice while reading this book. Three if you count the end which was more of a happy tears welling up in eyes. The first was when Hassan gets raped by Assef, Amir does nothing and Hassan carries on even though both he and Amir know what happened. The fact that those events could happen to someone, was completely heart-wrenching, and that Amir did nothing was too much to stomach. The second time I cried was when Sohrab stops speaking to Amir (for reasons which become clear if you read the book). The third and final time, which was a happy welling up of tears is when Amir and Sohrab have a moment of understanding. This book was powerful for so many reasons. Not only did it portray a time that was horrendous, frightening, and terrifying, it gave you characters that were full of light and darkness. Look at the narrator, Amir. Amir was loved by his father, but it was tough love. He was immature, selfish and inconsiderate and that is why he failed Hassan when he needed him most. I hated Amir for doing this to Hassan, the constant taking him for granted and not telling his father when Hassan gets raped by Assef. In Amir's quest to save Hassan's son Sohrab, Amir finally is, in a sense, able to repent for his sins. This book was about life coming full circle and how you never really leave your past behind and while I think Amir's life has come full circle, saving Sohrab didn't really save Hassan, rather it lessened Amir's guilt. I believe though that Hassan would have gladly traded his life for being saved than let his son's life be spent in a living hell. That may not make any sense but I guess I think that Amir is still repenting, and still should repent for the great injustice he caused Hassan. But, wow this was a great story. The writing was beautiful and I learned more about Afghanistan culture than I ever had before. This book gave me a window into a time and place that made me glad I live where I live with the people I do. But even through all the darkness present in this book, there was an underlying sense of love for a country, and for the common people who lived there regardless of the leaders. That was truly magical. I loved the ending as well. I feel like any other way than how Khaled Hosseini ended it would have ruined the book. I am not going to tell you the ending because I want you to read it for yourself. When I read this book, I hadn't really expanded my literary horizons. I have read a lot of fiction, which is fine, but didn't really, for the most part, challenge me or give me a true literary experience. The Kite Runner expanded my literary horizons and because of this book I am still expanding them today. Because now, I want to read another book as rich as this and generic fiction just won't do, and it won't satisfy me. I am looking for more books like this one.

Overall: 10 out of 10. Thank you Khaled Hosseini for waking me up.